Oil price slump costs another 12,500 jobs

Sinking oil prices have prompted another round of heavy job cuts.

Royal Dutch Shell(RDSB) will slash 6,500 jobs in 2015 as part of a cost cutting drive. Another British firm Centrica(CPYYF) will shed 6,000 jobs, partly due to a reduced focus on oil and gas production.

The latest wave of job losses follow a period of relative calm for energy firms as global crude prices stabilized.

But oil has resumed its slide over the past two months and now trades just below $49 a barrel.

The American energy revolution and record OPEC output has created a massive supply glut at a time when global economic growth is depressing demand.

The prospect of more oil exports from Iran as Western sanctions are lifted is also pressuring prices.

Shell suffered a sharp fall in second quarter profits. In addition to taking the knife to costs, the company is also planning to spend $3 billion less on capital investment in 2015 than it forecast just three months ago.